Vets Who Scan

BVA announce “We support scanning new patients as best practice.”This sounds great but it’s not a directive and means vets can do what they like, which is just not good enough!

VETS WHO SCAN FOR MICROCHIPS:-

Every vets practice sets their own practice policies, if the following vets can routinely scan all registering pets with owners, so can your’s!! All you have to do is have the conversation with them to raise awareness of this heartbreaking situation! You know it makes sense and so will they! Let us know if your vet scans for microchips and checks ownership details or if they have the new high tech Halo Microchip Scanner like the following vets.

TV Vet & Vet of the year Marc Abraham was one of Vets Get Scanning’s first supporters.

TV Vet Joe Inglis was asked ‘How can we encourage more vets to routinely scan all new registering pets for a microchip?’ Joe answered ‘I think it is just a process of raising awareness and driving home the importance of scanning new pets every time. It’s certainly something we’re going to be doing from now on here at Vet’s Klinic and I think when other vets hear the compelling case for doing so, more will follow suit.’

TV vet Zara Boland was totally unaware of this issue with stolen dogs being sold on to unsuspecting new owners and can understand the importance of routinely scanning new pets into the veterinary practice for microchips.

Tanya Crawley BVSc MRCVS
Joint Venture Partner Companion Care Vets in Swindon said “It is so important that all pets’ chips are checked regularly as sometimes chips can fail or even move. Companion Care Swindon make checking chips an absolute priority

We check every newly registered patient every time, but we aim to check all patients, even those already registered, every time. In an emergency, scanning the patient would come secondary to stabilising the patient.

We also remind our clients of the importance of keeping their pets’ chip details up to date. Of course you do not have to be registered with us for us to check your pet’s chip – we have 8 scanners in the practice and our reception team walk around the store twice daily offering a free chip checking service to all Pets at Home customers”

Willow Veterinary Centres support the Vets Get Scanning appeal and have started their own ‘Check the Chip Campaign’. Willow Vets made the decision to scan all pets at registration after they put the question to their clients “Would you want to know if you had a stolen/missing dog or cat” Thank you Willow Vets and all those clients! http://www.willowvet.co.uk/

Willow Vets have been so impressed with the Halo Microchip Scanner they have donated a scanner to local branches of :- Cats Protection and RSPCA and have raised funds to buy two Halo Scanner’s for Doglost!!

Gradually updating all our scanners to Halo and setting in place protocols so all 26 vets in practice scan every patient at every consult. Think this campaign is a really good one. With the amount of pets getting lost, stolen and even ransomed vigilance is paramount. Keep up the good work ! Jason Atherton BVMS CERT CHP MRCVS

Westway Vets have been so impressed with the Halo Microchip Scanner they have donated the incredible scanner to:- Labrador Angels and PARRT Rescue Amble.

Northdale Vets are delighted to be supporting this brilliant campaign, our Halo Microchip Scanners are on order and our staff already actively encourage checking of microchips and keeping owner details up to date. The Halo scanners will be used by our reception team to routinely scan pets the first time we see them in practice or if they are brought in lost, stolen or strayed. Let us get all vets scanning!!

ParkVets are thrilled to be able to support the Vets Get Scanning appeal as we feel this should be taken more seriously by all pet owners. We value the campaign’s objectives and our Vets here want to be able to help spread this amazing cause as much as they can.
ParkVets understands that an owner’s primary concern is their animal’s welfare, and we aim to do everything we can to support Vets Get Scanning. http://www.parkvets.com/

Ark House Vets in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire support the Vets Get Scanning appeal and have HALO scanners in all their consulting rooms. Using their own ‘Check and Chip’ campaign and scanning dogs at various community events through the year they are raising awareness locally of microchips and the importance of routine scanning. They’ve been so impressed with HALO scanners that they have donated a scanner to HULA Animal Rescue and encouraged another local rescue to start using theirs! http://www.arkhousevets.co.uk/

Newnham Court Veterinary Hospital, Maidstone, Kent.We have just been given a Halo scanner, so will be incorporating the use of that into our protocols! http://www.newnhamvets.co.uk/

Southcrest Vets, 97 Mount Pleasant, Reddich, Worcestershire, B97 4JD.They scan new patients, keep chip numbers on records and are prepared to stand by you in an ownership dispute. http://southcrestvets.co.uk/?page=home

St Georges Veterinary Group routinely scan all new patients, and have had some successes at getting stolen and picked up dogs home. They are based in Wolverhampton, with branches in Halesowen, Bushbery and Sedgley. http://www.stgeorgesvets.co.uk/

MEDIVET are now ‘Vets Who Scan’. They have sent us their Medivet new practice policy which has been rolled out to all their partners.

Johnty (pictured above) had been missing for 3 years and today (16th October’13) we had the delight in reuniting him with his owner.
Johnty came in for a nurse check and was routinely scanned for a microchip. The pet database company was contacted and it was confirmed that Johnty had been reported missing a staggering 3yrs ago. The dog had been found in the same county as he had once lived. It was clear that Johnty recognised his owner straight away and there was lots of hugs and licks exchanged. Johnty will be going home to be reunited with his sister.

Companion Care Vets, Royal Tunbridge Wells have said “It is so important that all pets’ chips are checked regularly as sometimes chips can fail or even move.
At Companion Care Tunbridge Wells we make checking chips an absolute priority which is why we have now purchased three Halo microchip scanners for each of our three consult rooms.We check every newly registered patients every time, but we aim to check all patients, even those already registered.

We scan all newly presented pets and always check chips at booster time, as well as random “spot checks” too.

Please please remind people to keep their chip details up to date.

In the last month we have seen FIVE pets that have had to go to dog warden or RSPCA because they were chipped but contact details/addresses were wrong! It’s just heartbreaking for us vets too. We get so excited when we find a chip only to be unable to find an owner!

Severn Vets in Worcester have changed their practice policy, and are introducing scanning of all new patients. We understand this will happen after the next practice meeting. They are small animal vets, running two surgeries, and with a fantastic spinal and orthopaedic referral and rehabilitation service. They will shortly have a Halo Scanner at each practice – waiting for the post to arrive! ‘Thank you Severn Vets and Sarah Garner who put our case for scanning’ post from Caroline Key.https://www.facebook.com/pages/Severn-Veterinary-Centre/646312805398216

The Cedar Veterinary Group is committed to supporting the Vets Get Scanning Scheme. It is particularly important to remind clients to keep their pets’ details up to date. All new clients’ pets will be scanned and microchips checked at annual booster vaccinations. http://www.cedarvet.com/

I run a practice that specializes in home visits for cats based in a roughly 10km radius around Ascot, Berkshire – part of my regular checkups for all cats every year are microchip scans – just wish all vets would do the same!

I know a lot of vets see routine scanning as “wasted time” and I too have spent countless hours and phone calls (much of these in my own time) following up on the chips that I have happened to find over the years….once you start to look, you definitely will find!! I recall finding a second chip in a dog that was about to board a flight to Australia which baffled me as to get to that stage of the travel this chip must’ve been missed so many times for the pre-travel blood tests, let alone the rest of the dog’s life… or the cat I saw a month ago that’s chip had stopped working altogether… I was the first person to have checked it routinely since it was placed so goodness knows how long it had been malfunctioning… or if it ever made it into the cat in the first place?

I know scanning every pet does seem to many vets like a time-consuming and often fruitless protocol but I would never stop doing this as I know how much I’d want someone to do this for my pet if they’d been missing or stolen. I think if we are charging to put them in in the first place then we must take responsibility for checking them.

Thanks for letting me help spread the word and good luck with your efforts which I wholeheartedly support!

The #DoItForDaisy #CheckThatChip campaign started by vet nurse Jody Barry RVN. Please share this with your vet. Remember it is a BVA’s ‘Best Practice’ recommendation but each vet practice set their own policies. #vetvoice

Hi, my friends spaniels and a Terrier were recently stolen after a break in from their kennels. I’m a veterinary nurse and It has made me realise that in most vets although we often check microchips on new clients pets, we never check the database to see if they’re marked lost or stolen. (Unless it’s obviously suspicious) I’m sure they get sold to people in good faith but if we aren’t checking databases how will they ever be found in that situation? To this end I’m starting a little campaign to raise awareness in the veterinary sector and asking all vets to routinely check pets chip details on the national database. Kind regards Jody Barry RVN

New Guidelines about Microchip Scanning and Databases from BVA:-

New Guidelines from RCVS June’13.

Using microchips to help reunite animals with their owners

14.15 Microchips are implanted in companion animals to assist with their return if lost or stolen and veterinary surgeons are frequently the first point of contact for those owners whose animals are missing.

14.16 A microchip may be scanned in circumstances where, for example, the animal has been lost or is a stray, is suspected that the animal has been stolen, or where a client is unaware that the animal has been microchipped; veterinary surgeons are encouraged to take appropriate steps to reunite the animal with the owner.

14.17 If it is suspected that the animal is stolen, veterinary surgeons or the owner may involve the police.

Ownership disputes

14.18 An ownership dispute may arise where a client presents an animal with a microchip registered in another person’s name.

14.19 Veterinary surgeons should consider the following information if faced with this situation:

Seek prior agreement to disclose

14.20 Practices may wish to obtain express written agreement from clients as a pre-condition of registering with the practice that if the practice discovers the animal is registered to another person, the personal data of the client and details of the animal and its location will be passed on to the person in whose name the animal is registered and/or the database provider.

14.21 A written agreement can be obtained through a standalone consent document. However, if the practice wishes to obtain this consent through its standard terms and conditions document, then the relevant terms and conditions stating that the client gives his/her consent must be in bold and sufficiently drawn to the client’s attention to be regarded as fair and properly incorporated into the contract between the practice and the client.

14.22 It is a requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998 for data controllers who process personal data to register on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Register of Data Controllers (unless they are exempt from registration); and to keep that registration up to date. Practices should ensure that disclosure of the nature described above is covered by the practices’ entries on the Register.

Seek consent to disclose

14.23 If there is no prior agreement for disclosure between the practice and the client, the veterinary surgeon should first try and obtain the current keeper’s consent to release their personal information (i.e. name/address) to the registered keeper and/or database provider.

14.24 It is likely that consent will be given freely if the registered keeper is aware that the animal is in the possession of the current keeper e.g. the current keeper is caring for the animal.

Failure to obtain consent

14.25 If the current keeper refuses to consent to the release of their personal information to the registered keeper, the veterinary surgeon should contact the registered keeper and/or the database provider and explain that the animal has been brought in by someone else. However, the veterinary surgeon should not release the current keeper’s personal information to the registered keeper (or any other third party including the database provider) at this stage.

14.26 If the veterinary surgeon makes contact with the registered keeper and the registered keeper is not concerned that the animal has been brought in by another person, then the veterinary surgeon should still not release the current keeper’s personal information to the registered keeper or any other third party as this disclosure would not fall under one of the exemptions in the Data Protection Act 1998. Consent will need to be obtained from the registered keeper to change the details on the microchip.

14.27 If the veterinary surgeon makes contact with the registered keeper and/or the database provider and from the conversation discovers that (i) the animal has been reported as stolen; (ii) the registered keeper was not aware that the animal is in someone else’s possession; and/or (iii) the registered keeper wants to recover the animal, then the veterinary surgeon may rely on the Data Protection Act and disclose the current keeper’s personal information provided he/she is certain and has evidence to support his/her feeling of certainty that such disclosure is “necessary” for the purposes of any legal or prospective legal proceedings, for the exercise of the legal rights of the registered owner or to enable the registered owner to take legal advice.

(a) Suspected Theft/Stolen Animal

In the event that the registered owner and/or database provider tells the veterinary surgeon that the animal is stolen, the veterinary surgeon may inform the registered keeper and/or database provider that s/he will alert the police and provide the police with the current keeper’s details. Alternatively, the veterinary surgeon may wish to ask the registered keeper and/or database provider to report the theft. The veterinary surgeon may then disclose appropriate details to the Police or ask for a formal request for disclosure from the Police for this information.

(b) Civil/Ownership dispute

In some cases, the animal may not have been reported stolen, but the registered keeper still wants to recover the animal. This may be the case where there is a civil/domestic dispute. In these circumstances, the veterinary surgeon should only provide the current keeper’s details to the registered keeper if the registered keeper has engaged a lawyer/legal advisor for advice relating to the recovery of the animal. Generally, the safest approach in these circumstances is for veterinary surgeons to disclose the current keeper’s details only to the registered keeper’s lawyer/legal advisor rather than directly to the registered keeper. The registered keeper’s lawyer/legal advisor should be asked to expressly confirm, in writing, the basis on which they are requesting disclosure and the basis on which disclosure is exempt under the Data Protection Act.

14.28 It is recommended that these steps are set out in a policy document, which is displayed at the practice so that the process is clear to clients.

14.15 Microchips are implanted in companion animals to assist with their return if lost or stolen and veterinary surgeons are frequently the first point of contact for those owners whose animals are missing.

14.16 A microchip may be scanned in circumstances where, for example, the animal has been lost or is a stray, is suspected that the animal has been stolen, or where a client is unaware that the animal has been microchipped; veterinary surgeons are encouraged to take appropriate steps to reunite the animal with the owner.

14.17 If it is suspected that the animal is stolen, veterinary surgeons or the owner may involve the police.

Ownership disputes

14.18 An ownership dispute may arise where a client presents an animal with a microchip registered in another person’s name.

14.19 If a client declines to consent to the release of his or her name and contact details, a veterinary surgeon may breach client confidentiality to pass the necessary information to the original owner.
http://www.rcvs.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/code-of-professional-conduct-for-veterinary-surgeons/supporting-guidance/client-confidentiality/. UPDATED 5TH NOV 2012

YOUR VET WILL DECIDE WHICH MICROCHIP YOU HAVE AND THEREFORE WHICH DATABASE YOU ARE ON!

The six databases refuse to work together unless the Government intervenes. There is no code of practice and there is no statutory obligation to scan for microchips by anyone, other than the Pet Passpost, Dangerous Dogs and Working Dogs.

The six UK databases, Petlog, Anibase, Avid, PetProtect, Smart Chip and Pet Identity, all offer different services. Please read the small print and make sure the registration of the microchip is for the life of the pet, not 8 years like Anibase (identichip) and that a 24/7 reunification service 365 days a year does not mean an answer phone message ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE LOST YOUR DOG! If you are unhappy with the database you are on you can change to another for a charge.

MAKE SURE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS ARE REGISTERED AND UP TO DATE WITH YOUR DATABASE!

Petlog………..0870 6066751

Anibase/identichip…….. 01904 487600

Avid/PetTrac………….0800 652 9977

Pet Protect…..0800 077 8558

Smart Chip….0844 5420999

Pet Identity….0800 9751960

On 6th April, 2016 Compulsory Microchipping for ALL dogs was introduced, please remember the UK will continue working to a ‘Collar and Tag’ legislation. This means you must have a tag on your dog with your contact details on, even if your dog is microchipped. You could be fined up to £5,000 for not doing so.

If you find a dog, keep it and do not inform the Dog Warden this is theft and you are breaking the law.

Please take a look at the new award winning Halo Microchip Scanner with it’s new technology!

The Halo will tell the vet, rescue or dog warden if the pet is missing and which database + phone number.

6. Are you aware of the differences between the four different databases and the services they provide?

Yes…… No……….. 99% answered No. (Same vet)

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7. Are you aware that not all rescues scan for micrchips before re homing?

Yes ……. No…….. 75% said yes. (Younger enthusiastic vets answered No)

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8. Are you aware that not all Highway agencies scan deceased pets on the side of the roads for microchips?

Yes….. No…….. 80% said No.

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9. Are you aware that not all Council Pounds scan for chips before dogs are put to sleep or sold after the seven day deadline?

Yes…….. No…… 70% said No

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10. Would you be willing to help get the public to update their data details for pets?

Yes…. No……. 100% saidYes

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Any points you would like to raise?

More stringent guidelines needed from BSAVA.

Information supplied by Debbie Matthews

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AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL VETS ACROSS THE UK:

Bruce Forsyth’s daughter Debbie and her husband Richard Matthews had their two dogs, Widget and Gizmo, stolen from their car in May 2006. Both dogs were subsequently sold in a livestock market in Southall to the general public. It is very unlikely that they would have been recovered without the widespread publicity the story generated in the media, particularly with GMTV. In the immediate aftermath of the theft Debbie and Richard were given some comfort knowing that both dogs were microchipped and reasoning that sooner or later the dogs would visit a vet who would routinely scan them for microchips and discover that they were stolen. This was a false hope as they were informed that Vets do not scan new dogs registering for microchips!

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons have stated “Individual Vets are free to set their own policies on microchip scanning and some may choose to make routine checks”. As of the 14th August 2006 the RCVS have joined forces with Petlog, who have a database of 3.5 million microchipped pets, together they are now reminding vets about the valuable role they can play in helping to reunite pets with their owners. The problem with ‘Client Confidentiality’ can now be passed on to Petlog who will take further action.

Dog stealing is now one of the biggest growing crimes in the UK. All dogs are at risk; all sizes, breeds and ages are being stolen from cars, gardens, tied up outside shops or even when being walked in a park. Vets are the missing link and both dogs and their owners need your help in halting this heart breaking crime. It is a fact that stolen mircrochipped dogs are being sold to the unsuspecting public and Vets are the only hope of these dogs getting back home. There is now no valid reason why you should not be scanning!

Brendon Robinson B.V.Sc, R.C.V.S. Owner of Village Vets in Belsize Park after speaking with Debbie, has said
“I think a system where the receptionists scan every dog for microchips coming into the surgery is excellent. We have a microchip scanner on the reception desk. This also gets other people waiting in reception to ask what you are doing and then they get their pets chipped”.

We are therefore appealing to all Vets to scan all dogs for micrchips that you have on your books and to adopt a practice policy where all dogs are routinely scanned on their first visit at registration.

If you agree with our appeal please contact us online at www.vetsgetscanning.co.uk

We would also like to hear from you if you disagree and with your reasons why!